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Uefa looks to amend international calendar
Uefa is seeking more international double-headers and early kick-offs in a bid to increase TV revenue reports The Daily Telegraph. International qualifying games could be played on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, with midweek games kicking off in new early-evening slots. Meanwhile, Uefa President Michel Platini has restated he would still prefer a winter World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA outlines agents plan
Marco Villiger, FIFA’s head of legal affairs, has revealed that plans are being drawn to put limits of $2m on the amount player agents earn from transfers. Speaking in Brussels, Villiger stated FIFA is seeking to end its system of licensing agents believing only 25-30% of international transfers are carried out by licensed agents.
Real Madrid’s turnover increases
Real Madrid’s announced this week that its annual revenue rose to £420m, showing an 8.6% increase over the previous financial year.
United IPO on hold
Manchester United have temporarily delayed plans for a £636m flotation in Singapore due to market volatility. The club still plans a listing before the end of the year. Meanwhile, United are to pay record bonuses of £5m to more than 500 Old Trafford staff ‘in recognition of the club’s success’ according to reports.
New Record for Serie A rights
Italy’s Serie A has sold its domestic TV rights for the three-seasons (2013 to 2015) for close to £2.16bn.
Match-fixers buying clubs
Organised criminal gangs are making long-term investments in match-fixing, purchasing clubs and organising referee training camps as part of their infiltration of soccer, FIFA’s security chief Chris Eaton told Reuters this week.
City submit plans for new training complex
Manchester City have submitted plans for a new 8-acre training facility, adjacent to the club’s Etihad stadium. The complex will have 15 full-size pitches, a 7,000 capacity stadium for youth matches and on-site accommodation for over 40 players. It is rumoured that the project will cost £100m. A decision on planning permission for the scheme is expected in early December.
La Liga relegation loophole to be closed
Financially-troubled Spanish clubs will no longer be able to escape relegation by entering into administration after the Spanish government agreed a change in the law. The move met with approval from the Spanish Players’ Union, who stated the practice was one of their chief grievances when they called a strike delaying the start of this season’s league competition.
Twitter influence grows
In the absence of a shirt sponsor, Valencia displayed their Twitter handle on the front of their shirts for their match against Barcelona on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the English FA this week advertised the job of Head of Corporate Communications on Twitter, stating that the ‘candidate they would want to recruit would be on Twitter’.
HMRC to crackdown on tax-avoiding players
Britain’s tax authority HMRC has been given £917m ‘to ensure that tax rules are adhered to across the board’ which will cover a clampdown on tax evasion in football, to ensure players are not dodging payments during the country’s economic turmoil.
Turkey imposes ‘women and children only’ rule
Turkish clubs whose fans are involved in crowd trouble face having all males over the age of 12 banned from their grounds as an alternative to playing games behind closed doors. The Turkish Football Federation policy means that only women and children will be allowed in to matches for the duration of a ban.
Neuchatel Xamax in red
Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax owes £2.3m, with most of the debt accrued after the club was taken over by Chechen Bulat Chagaev, Le Matin en Dimanche reports. The newspaper cited an extract from the debt recovery office stating that money is owed to 25 creditors, including the tax office, hotels and property agents.
Spurs get new stadium go ahead
Tottenham Hotspur have been given planning permission to build a new stadium next to their current home at White Hart Lane. The Premier League club say they will continue discussions with local authorities and the London mayor in an effort to secure funding for the potential move to the 20-acre site immediately north of their current ground.
Portsmouth’s new owners ‘surprised’ by the lack of investment
Portsmouth’s new owners Convers Sports Initiatives have admitted they were surprised by the lack of investment made by the club’s previous owners. “In the past six-or-seven years around half-a-billion pounds was moving around the club,” Roman Dubov told BBC South Today, “But we don’t even have proper toilets in the stadium… this was a nonsense.”
Bristol City’s hopes of a new stadium threatened judicial review
Bristol City’s £92m plans to build a 30,000-seat stadium face long delays or even collapse over the objections of a local parish council. The council of the village of Long Ashton (pop: 4,822) has set aside £20,000 of its taxpayers’ money to fight the club’s application through a petition for judicial review. Parishioners want the entire 42-acre stadium site and its surrounding land to be designated as a ‘village green’.
AMERICAS
Garber talks of MLS expansion policy and names price
MLS Commissioner Don Garber discussed MLS expansion plans on a recent trip to Dallas. Garber stated that the League has no firm plans for expansion beyond a 20th team in New York. MLS are in discussions with more than one group in relation to the New York franchise, the franchise fee is given as £68m.
MLS crowds remain strong
MLS enjoyed an attendance boost last weekend with the nine matches averaging gates of just over 21,000. The season average now stands at 17,533.
Chelsea sign Barbados deal
Chelsea signed of a 3-year deal with the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) this week. The tourism partnership will help the BTA promote the island of Barbados to a wider audience across North America, the Caribbean and the UK while the club will look to explore specific community soccer/football coaching programmes on the island and in the UK.
REST OF THE WORLD
FFA approve new owners for Wellington
Football Federation Australia have approved a change of ownership for the A-League’s Wellington Phoenix, after debt-stricken property tycoon Terry Serepisos relinquished the licence he has held since 2007, when he took control of the NZ Knights. Serepisos, who reportedly has debts of more than £102m handed the Phoenix back to the FFA who have given the licence to a new ownership consortium of Wellington-based businessmen headed by investment banker Rob Morrison.
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